Major League Baseball

Diamondbacks-Astros Preview

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:00 p.m. ET

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Last year's AL Cy Young winner and a pitcher many felt should have won the NL's award don't have the numbers to warrant any legitimate thoughts that they'll be up for the honor again this season.

Dallas Keuchel finally interrupted his slide in his latest outing, though, and Zack Greinke believes he's pitching much better than he has for most of his first season with Arizona.

They'll oppose each other Thursday as Keuchel looks to help the Houston Astros sweep a four-game series from the visiting Diamondbacks.

Keuchel (3-6, 5.58 ERA) won the 2015 Cy Young after going 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA while leading Houston (25-29) to the playoffs. He's been downright bad in stretches this season, though, and has allowed at least five runs five times, including when he gave up seven in a loss to Texas on May 22.

The left-hander got it together Saturday and won for the first time since April 15 after allowing two runs in seven innings of a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Keuchel didn't walk any for the first time in seven starts and retired the final 18 hitters he faced.

"I knew it was going to turn around because I'm a pretty big competitor and I don't like to lose," Keuchel said. "Losing five (decisions) in row didn't sit too well and I knew I was going to turn it around if I just stuck with it.

"It's the first nice start in a while where I can smile and the team won."

Manager A.J. Hinch figured a performance like that was coming, too, but probably not after Keuchel allowed back-to-back homers in the first inning.

"A lot of stuff he's done early in the season has been noteworthy because we're not used to seeing him struggle with his command and control," Hinch said. "But he's still Dallas Keuchel, he's still a very difficult matchup for an opponent and that doesn't change just because he had a couple of bad starts."

Greinke (6-3, 4.71) didn't expect his poor start to continue either and has won his last three starts. He held San Diego to one run through five innings Saturday and picked up an 8-7 victory despite giving up three more runs in his sixth and final inning and ended May with a 3.82 ERA in five outings.

"Fastball was probably the best it's been all year," Greinke said. "Been pitching good the past month, been winning a lot of games, that's really all that matters. I probably pitched better today than in some other games where I've had better results."

The right-hander allowed at least four earned runs for the fifth time already this season, though, after doing so just twice all of last year, when he led the majors with a 1.66 ERA and finished a very close second to the Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta in the Cy Young voting while with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Houston dealt him one of his three losses on Aug. 22 when he gave up three runs in seven innings. Jose Altuve has had the most success of any Astro against Greinke, going 8 for 15 with a homer, a triple and a double.

Altuve enters this matchup riding a seven-game hitting streak that includes him going 10 for 20 over his last four after finishing with two hits in Wednesday's 5-4 win. George Springer homered with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning after Arizona (23-32) tied it with a three-run ninth.

Houston has won eight of nine, and each victory during its five-game winning streak has come on the road.

The Diamondbacks have dropped seven of their last nine.

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